CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Many retired teachers in the Coastal Bend are rejoicing after proposition nine was passed.
Gloria Montalvo is a retired teacher in Texas. She said that this proposition is going to help make her life easier to live.
“It does bring more income into my household which allows us to maintain our standard of living,” Montalvo said.
On Tuesday, Texas voters approve Proposition 9, which would authorize the state to use $3.3 billion dollars to fund the cost-of-living adjustments for Texas education retirees.
"It helps individuals like me and my fellow workers, but it helps the entire community, because public education is what makes our country great and if you have a good retirement program for teachers, then they keep wanting to work in the public-school systems,” she said.
According to Texas Retirement System, just under 476,000 retired teachers received an average monthly payment of more than $2,000 in 2022.
Nancy Vera works with the Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers. She said teachers living paycheck-to-paycheck could change.
“This increase in the coast of living will help them not to have a second, third, or even fourth job,” Vera said. “They won’t have to sacrifice, for example their house and neglecting their houses.”
Under the new law, retired teachers would see their pensions increase between 2% and 6%, with people who were retired longer making more.
“When you’re as old as we are, you don’t always want to travel and do those things, you just want to maintain, and you want to have your family around you,” Montalvo said.
The cost-of-living increase would also benefit former public school employees like bus drivers, nurses, paraprofessionals, and librarians. This cost-of-living increase also does not affect taxpayers.
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